Summary: We will not investigate this complaint arising from the Council’s withdrawal of residents’ parking permits in 2019. Part of the complaint is late and there would be no worthwhile outcome from investigating more recent events.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mrs B, has complained the Council withdrew her resident’s parking permit in 2019. This means she cannot park on streets within a controlled parking zone (CPZ) near her home. She says she has tried since then to have the permit rules changed without success.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mrs B and on the Council’s website. I have also considered our Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. To introduce a CPZ, a council must make a traffic regulation order (TRO) in accordance with the Regulations. ( Local Authorities' Traffic Orders (Procedure) (England and Wales) Regulations 1996)
7. The Regulations set out procedures for consultation and dealing with objections to a proposal before a council makes a TRO.
8. The Council created the CPZ near Mrs B’s home by making a TRO in 2014. It realised in 2018 it had wrongly issued permits to some residents, including Mrs B, whose homes were not listed as eligible for parking permits. It rectified this by not issuing further permits to those residents.
9. The Council has begun a parking review which may result in a new TRO. The details of any new TRO will be for the Council to decide once it has completed the statutory consultation process.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint. A complaint about the withdrawal of permits in 2019 is late. There is also no fault in the Council correcting the error of issuing permits to properties not included in the 2014 TRO. Investigation of more recent events would not be worthwhile as the statutory process that may result in a revised TRO is already under way.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman